Anatomic Therapy

68. WE SHOULD EAT ONLY WHEN WE ARE HUNGRY

Just by following this one small guideline we can get the food digested properly. This guideline is that we have to eat only when we are hungry. What is hunger? Hunger is nothing but the signal to us from our body that all the parts in our body are ready for digesting the food properly and mix it with the blood.

All the food that we eat without feeling hungry become waste or poison. One very important secret in our treatment is that we should eat only when we feel hungry. People say that no disease will come if you take food as per a time schedule. This is wrong. Whoever eats food in a timely manner, they will get all the diseases. Eating when you are hungry is totally different from eating timely food.

For example, let us say that we took breakfast at 8.00 am in the morning. Let us assume that we did not give any appreciable work to our body after breakfast. Now we see that the clock shows 2.00 pm. We think, “Oh, it is already 2.00 pm! Let us take lunch.”

But did we check whether we feel hungry? No. If you see the time and eat lunch at 2.00 pm when even the breakfast that you ate in the morning is not yet digested and mixed in the blood, you will get diseases. The food in the stomach also will not be digested. The food that you consume now also will not be digested. So, the first reason for all the diseases in the world is eating without feeling hungry.

Let us see another example. You eat your breakfast at 8.00 am in the morning. Then you work hard. You feel hungry at 12.00 noon. What will happen if you wait without taking food saying, “I will not eat now; I will eat food as per time schedule; I will eat only at 2.00 pm”? The hydrochloric acid in the stomach will be secreted by 12.00 noon when you feel hungry. Since this acid does not get any food till 2.00 pm, it will be diluted.

Thus, the food that you eat two hours after you get hunger will not be digested properly. What we have to understand from this is that, if you eat timely food you will get diseases. If you eat food when you are hungry you will not get diseases and the diseases that you may already have will be cured.

Who has invented the law that everyone should eat thrice daily? Some people may do more physical work. They can eat even five times a day. Some people will do less physical work, It may be sufficient if they eat twice a day. Therefore, from now on, please do not see the clock for eating. We have to keep on doing our work. Only when our body creates the feeling of hunger in us, we have to think about eating food and only then we have to eat food.

The great sage Thiruvalluvar says in the immortal Tamil epic Thirukkural, “The body does not need medicine for any disease. After the food that we eat is digested, we need to eat food when we feel hungry again. If we follow this, then our body will not need any medicine at all for any disease.”

Thus, one important principle in our treatment is that we have to eat only when we feel hungry. If you do not follow this principle and follow all other principles that we are going to explain after this, then you may not get the best results.

When we eat thrice daily, we eat 90 times in a month. It may not be possible for all of us to eat after feeling hungry at all these 90 times. Therefore, to start with, we can practice eating after feeling hungry for at least 10 times in a month. Then we can increase it to 20, 30 and so on.

Some of us may work in a company. We may be required to eat lunch between 1.00 PM and 2.00 PM and return to work at 2.00 PM. What can we do if we do not feel hungry during that time? In this way, there may be a necessity to eat food without feeling hungry sometimes.

During such times, we can follow the many techniques that we are going to explain. By doing so, we can save ourselves from having our food being converted into waste and poison. However, it is always good to wait for hunger when we are at our home and also wherever we can. So, please eat your food only after you feel hungry.